fallslikesnow

The agent walked down the loading ramp, his luggage rattling along behind on mesh wheels and his faery, part minder, part secretary, flitting about his head. The mayor rushed up to him, flustered at having to greet someone so senior who's purpose was unknown to him. "Welcome sir, welcome! May I say what a pleasure it is to see a representative of the Commonwealth after so many years. We have made a suite of rooms available to you ..." "Enough of your obsequiousness mayor. My requirements were sent on ahead. I trust they have been fulfilled," said the agent in a voice gruff and stale from lack of use. "We tried sir, but there is no offshore drilling capacity available here. Our industrial base is not yet sufficiently advanced. It will be decades before we have need of such technology." "You have need of that technology now . I will have to stay until you can import the necessary industrial base - the Commonwealth will provide what is needed. I...

I've discovered "The Rose of Desire" on a warez site. I don't know whether to be appalled or flattered.

That Which Falls Has Wings by animabase from Korea, Republic of

The short but action-packed history of video games contains certain seminal moments that, in retrospect at least, represented true changes in how this young art-form has developed. Think of the escalating brutality of the first level of DOOM!; the slow dawning of realisation of the sheer size of Hyrule Field; the gleeful simplicity of Katamari Damacy. One such moment that stays with this reviewer is the opening of the game Myst -- a book falls through a dark void while a voice recites what seems to be a confession to something of which the player is incomprehending. The opening of "The War Against Memory" evokes a similar feeling of desperate mystery. A figure sits at a desk, frantically scribbling disjointed facts (the population of Brazil in 1968; the location of a rural post-office in Nebraska; breakfast 11th May, 1998) onto pieces of paper, each of which he sets alight with a battered Zippo and drops in a trash can. This mystery, however, (unlike many others in the...

My horror story set in medieval England, " The Red Threads and the Green Man ", is available on the very excellent Kaleidotrope.

The Rose of Desire , Bubbles - Two Fragments from the Shoal Wars, In the Morning, in the Sudden Glow...    are all available for free at Amazon until the 25th. Download now or you will have to pay actual money for them! 

"In the Morning, in the Sudden Glow ..." is now available for free at Smashwords and for 99c at Amazon .

Above is a sneak glimpse of the probable cover for the sequel to Bubbles, called Jasmines. Look for it at the end of this year or early the next.

"The Rose of Desire" and "Bubbles" anthologies are available for free on Amazon right now! You know you want them. Go get them. http://www.amazon.com/The-Rose-of-Desire-ebook/dp/B0060MK1P6/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1 http://www.amazon.com/Bubbles-Fragments-Shoal-Wars-ebook/dp/B0061E1KDU/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2

A long time ago Men landed on the moon Some said, "What's the point?" But they were too soon To say that those men In their white and gray suits Shouldn't have gone there To stomp around in their big boots No, to complete the mission There is one last thing to do We need to summon our forces AND SEND A GIRL TO THE MOON! She will need the correct toys Buzz Lightyear or such-like She'll need a white space-suit To get around she'll need a bike She'll go to astronaut school Learn science and rocket-ships How to bounce around in zero gee Deal with space-chapped lips Yes, to be a space girl would be Lonely and glorious too To plant a flag and look back At Earth, that little stone of blue

I've uploaded another anthology to Amazon and Smashwords - Bubbles, two stories set in my Shoal Wars universe. Bubbles - after the Earth has been destroyed by enigmatic aliens the remnants of humanity spiral towards civil war. Jasmine – a pre-pubescent astronaut discovers the truth about her mission and vows revenge. Available here .

I've uploaded a short e-anthology to Amazon and Smashwords. Three science fiction stories by Kenneth Burstall Sea of Dreams - a deadly race for a weapon of enormous power aboard a dying starship The Rose of Desire - vignettes of desire and transformation in the near to far future RED - a nightmarish journey across a transformed Europe It's free on Smashwords so I suggest that if you want it (and why wouldn't you?) click here .

There's a hippo in a tree Looking down at you There are cats on legs like buses That want to chase you There are bees like ferrets That can barely buzz around you There's a giant sea dog It wants to grab and eat you But they are afraid Of you, with your green hair Of you, with your red horns Of you, with your sixteen legs Of you, size of the moon With your scary books in your arms

SECTION VII.    Know ye then, O Sons of Science, there are seven bodies, of which gold is the first, the most perfect, the king of them, and their head, which neither the earth can corrupt nor fire devastate, nor the water change, for its complexion is equalised, and its nature regulated with respect to heat, cold, and moisture; nor is there anything in it which is superfluous, therefore the philosophers do buoy up and magnify themselves init saying that this gold, in relation of other bodies. is, as the sun amongst the stars, more splendid in Light; and as, by the power of God, every vegetable and all the fruits of the earth are perfected, so gold by the same power sustainneth all. For as dough without a ferment cannot be fermented so when thou sublimest the body and purifiest it, separating the uncleanness from it, thou wilt then conjoin and mix them together, and put in the ferment confecting the earth and water. Then will the Ixir ferment even as...

Summer, Tabby on a star It's very hot, it's very far From Mother Earth, a little blue dot Getting home would cost a lot From there a bus would take years A rocket faster, but then who steers? So Tabby, Summer on a star Collect stardust in a jar Build a house with a huge aircon A big yard, they felt they'd won Look up at night, you'll see them there House of stardust, look close,a stair Of moondust. Go up, be quiet, they may be asleep It's a long way, it's very steep Look, there in a bed, see you must Girls made of stars like diamond dust

Yesterday morning I got an email from the wonderful Phoenix Sullivan , editor of the e-anthology Extinct Doesn't Mean Forever in which my story Connect appeared. As an experiment Phoenix had uploaded Connect as a stand-alone story for free download to the Amazon kindle store. To my astonishment her email informed me that the story was being downloaded like crazy and was at number 600 and something in the free/kindle charts. As of writing this, it is at #228. If you are reading this post as a result of looking up my name after reading Connect, welcome! I've uploaded three more stories to Amazon (see my author page, here ,) at 99c each - however, both RED and The Rose of Desire are available on this blog if you do a quick search (in fact, The Rose of Desire is the post below this one). If you enjoyed Connect (or if you didn't!) feel free to leave a comment or email me at the address below my picture to the right.

When blue was red and orange pink No-one here knew what to think But Summer ran as fast as gray To the King of Colour, she went to say "You silly King, you over-slept, you Better get up, red turned to blue!" Bopped with a balloon he got out of bed Had a shower, demanded to be fed So Summer made an omlette with fuchsia eggs Ran it to the King on orange legs He ate, touched a finger to some toast It turned pink to brown, it was the most Amazing thing Summer had ever seen Until she saw him turn purple back to green Summer saved the day, all was mellow But she kept a piece of sky that still was yellow

Theus v. United States,   611 F.3d 441 , 446 (8th Cir. 2010). "Deficient performance is that which falls below the range of competence demanded of attorneys in criminal cases." Id. (quotation omitted).   BASS v. U.S.

SECTION VI. It behoves thee to give thanks to God who has bestowed liberally of his bounty to the wise, who delivers us from misery and poverty. I am tempted and proven with the fullness of his substance and his probable wonders, and humbly pray God that whilst we live we may come to him. Remove thence, O Sons of Science, the unguents which we extract from fats, hair, verdigrease, tragacanth , and bones, which are written in the books of our fathers. But concerning the ointments which contain the tincture coagulate the fugitive, and adorn the sulphurs it behooves us to explain their disposition more at large ! and to unveil the Form, which is buried and hidden from other unguents; which is seen in disposition, but dwells in his own body, as fire in trees and stones, which by the most subtle art and ingenuity it behoves to extract without burning. And know that the Heaven is to be joined mediately with the Earth - but the Form is in a middle nature between tie heav...

Rig Name: Rowan Gorilla IV Rig Manager: Rowan Rig Owner: Rowan Competitive Rig: Yes Rig Type: Jackup Jackup Type: Independent Leg Cantilever Rig Design: LeTourneau Class 200-C Gorilla Rated Water Depth: 450 ft Drilling Depth: 30,000 ft